Arsenal News 24/7Writer: Rocky7 
Date:Monday January 10 2011
Time: 9:42AM
UK time is: 03:53:17
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Wenger: I Could Be Forced To Sign Player
Arsene Wenger says he could sign a new player this transfer window after a second of his four centre backs suffered injury.
Sebastien Squillaci pulled a hamstring in the FA Cup 3rd round match against Leeds last Saturday, leaving him on the treatment table with long term absentee, Thomas Vermaelen. Johan Djourou and Laurent Koscielny are now the only two fit centre halves for the Gunners.
Arsene Wenger admitted that should Squilaci's injury be a lengthy one, he'll be forced into the transfer market .... and fast.
'If we only have two centre-backs then that cannot work with the number of centre-backs we have,' said Wenger.
'If Squillaci has a problem then we must quickly go out for a player.'
We have been linked with a few centre backs in recent times, including Bolton's Gary Cahill, Werder Bremen's Per Mertesacker and two time Arsenal defender Sol Campbell.
To offer my own personal opinion, I'd be inclined to go for Blackburn's Christopher Samba. I think he's very solid defender at a great age with valuable Premier League experience. His recent admission that he wants to leave Blackburn would help matters along nicely too.
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Your Comments
I think only having 4 CB's was risky in the first place, especially with Djorou having had a so many injuries in his career. We are lucky that the 3 we have fit have picked up no injuries up to now. We are one injury away from having to play Song at the back and then Denilson in the middle. Lets move quick for this defender
paul_ownz
Make that three players Arsene as I currently have Bendtner and Denilson captive in my cellar. Don't worry I haven't Fritzled them and have chucked a ball in there to keep them amused, though from my cctv I've set up I can see neither has had a touch of note yet.
nikolaijns
Gary Cahill prob the best option, good age, prem experience and could throw vela in to sweeten any deal????
RazorRay
I've heard around the 15mil mark for Cahill,which i think is too much.Mertesacker would be much better for that money
ajwb
Encouraging to hear that we aren't taking any risks. Not sure that there is much out there genuinely available worth having though. Can't help thinking that if Samba wants to leave just because Allardyce was sacked we should be looking somewhere else for a player.
Amos.
I'm not sure that Samba's reasons for leaving should give us any cause for concern (unless he's having a tantrum, we've had our fair share of those kind of players), but if he's wanting out because Fat Sam was given then boot then I don't see that as a problem. I think Sam is a c*** but if Samba doesn't that's ok, it's not going to affect his talent as a footballer.
Rocky7
I've been saying (although not neccessarily on here) for a few weeks that I would really like to see Chris Samba at Arsenal. Although I rate Cahill, I think you pay over the odds just because he's English!
navydave
Looking at the positives, if you had to pick one of our CB's to be out, it'd be Squillaci, based on current form. If you had to pick a time to have this problem, it'd be now. Good that the boss wants to act promptly to address this. I don't even get into who he signs, just anyone the manager wants and thinks can do a job for us. Loan or permanent, young or experienced (preferred), entirely up to him.
GoonerLou
Wenger: "I Could Be Forced To Sign Player, Geoff from Le-Grove is standing behind me and he has a gun"
iceman10
Lol! Iceman.
Naijagunner
With the fixture list staring us in the face for January alone, I'd be buying 'anyone' fast. Cahill would have been appropriate but if his club are not going to be reasonable, Samba will give us something new and should be a good addition. I am surprised Wenger is still making this out to be rocket science when the decision is an obvious one.
Naijagunner
We definitely need one defender, but do we need two? Say we buy two and Squillaci and Vermaelen both return sometime in Feb. That's 6 defenders at the club which is too many. I think we should buy one quality CB (or perhaps even a loan from somewhere) and promote one of the youngsters. Kyle Bartley perhaps.
gronedrone
We need someone who can slot straight in and doesn't need to 'get up to speed'. Cahill is neat, tidy and strong. I agree a swap deal with Vela sounds interesting.
Wyn Mills
BTW, How can our reserves get smashed 10-1 by Villa?
Wyn Mills
Shocking result there, wasn't it? Talks about an early red card to a defender and poor conditions. Hey! But 10-1?
Naijagunner
Tough call- I don't think Wenger will go for a first-choice option like Mertesacker or Cahill, I really don't want to see Sol again, so I'd bet on somebody like Samba. You know what will happen if Wenger doesn't sign anybody- Vermaelen will aggravate his injury, Squillaci will stay hurt, and Djourou will pull up lame on Feb 2. And if we are forced to play Kos/Bartley (no experience) or Kos/Song (pulls entire team out of shape) against Barca, expect an aggregate much like yesterday's reserve game.
elbondo
I'm worried that Wenger has said he'll go out for a defender. You know Wenger says one thing and does completely the opposite. But we really should sign a Samba or Mertescker
gunner_vin
What option would you take 1. Cahill for 17Million, 2. Mertesacker for 10Million, 3. Samba for 5Million. I want your opinions and why?
Arseniger
Guess what- Verm has had another 'minor' setback, and Squillaci is out 2-3 weeks which translates into roughly 4-6 weeks. We need one top central defender for sure, a second would be nice, preferably on loan but we are too short with too many games coming up to worry about that- now is not the time to promote Bartley or Miquel. If we are left with six experienced central defenders at the end of the season, fine, deal with selling them or loaning them out then.
elbondo
Well it appears Vermaelen has had the setback we were all fearing, so fate has dealt Wenger the hand. He now has to act. I just hope it isn't Campbell. We need to think longer term than that.
Wyn Mills
Whoever it is, hope that he is a good English speaker as he will need to communicate immediately and be able to play a full part from day one - at this time of the season there will be no time for adjustment.
grouvillegooner
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